What does Tribe teach about israel?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At Tribe, the teaching on Israel starts with a simple claim: this is not a topic Christians can ignore or set aside. Brian Hunter has returned to it across multiple seasons, each time pressing the congregation to ask an honest question about where their beliefs on Israel actually come from, and whether those hooks are strong enough to bear the weight of a biblically formed conviction. The foundation he keeps returning to is Zechariah 8:2, where God says his love for Mount Zion is passionate and strong and that he is consumed with passion for Jerusalem. If that is true of God, Brian argues, it has to shape the posture of anyone who loves God.
Brian has named and pushed back on three narratives that compete for the congregation's belief: that Israel is a colonizing, apartheid state; that the conflict is ancient and irrelevant; and that the church has replaced Israel so that God is finished with her. He has called replacement theology directly what he thinks it is, and grounded his rejection of it in Romans 11:24 and the covenant promise of Genesis 12. To explain why Israel has faced persistent persecution across thousands of years, he has traced the Bible's account of a fallen spiritual being whose only capacity is to tear down what God has made, and who has targeted the lineage through which the Messiah came. The hostility, Brian says, is not random and is not new. He also walked the congregation through Ezekiel 16, which describes Israel as a newborn abandoned in a field with nothing intrinsically special about her that earns God's affection. The point is not to romanticize Israel but to see the same pattern that plays out in every human heart: God passes by, says live, and raises something from nothing.
The question Brian kept putting to the room, especially during the church's twenty-one-day fast for Israel, was this: when Israel faces its darkest hour, who will be the people that show up? He pointed to what happened in Europe, where Christians largely did nothing while Jewish people were marched past at bayonet point, and held it up as a failure he did not want Tribe to repeat. Brian says, "Do not think that you have time someday down the road to make a decision whether or not you will be one of those who will stand with Israel." The story of Israel, he told the congregation, is our story, and the right response to it is extreme humility, not indifference.
Taught from Zechariah 12:1-3 · Zechariah 8:2 · Romans 11:24 · Ezekiel 16:1-15 · Genesis 12:2-3
“Just because it's louder doesn't mean it's true.”
From Israel: A Stone in the Path
The passage taught · Deuteronomy 7:6-9
6 For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God. Yahweh your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth.
7 Yahweh didn’t set his love on you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples:
8 but because Yahweh loves you, and because he desires to keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, Yahweh has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
9 Know therefore that Yahweh your God himself is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with them who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations,
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- July 8, 2024 Israel: A Stone in the Path Brian Hunter walks through Zechariah 12 to explore why Israel remains the most contested piece of ground on earth and what Scripture says about where we hang our beliefs.
- July 7, 2024 Israel, A Stone In the Path Brian Hunter walks through Zechariah 12 to ask why Israel remains the most contested piece of ground on earth and where you have chosen to hang your beliefs about it.
- March 4, 2024 My Love for Israel Is Passionate and Strong Brian Hunter sets aside his planned message to lead Tribe Church in an honest conversation about Israel, the October 7 attacks, and why Christians are called to care.
- March 3, 2024 Our Relationship With Israel Brian Hunter leads Tribe Church through an open conversation about why Christians should care about Israel, drawing from Zechariah, Ezekiel, and Romans to ground the discussion in scripture.
- September 25, 2023 Making Room for Israel Brian Hunter walks Tribe through Romans 11, exploring God's heart for Israel during a 21-day fast and what it means for believers grafted into that story.
- September 18, 2023 A Measure of Hope for Israel Brian Hunter walks Tribe through Daniel 11 and what Scripture calls Jacob's trouble, asking who will stand with Israel when that time comes.
Mentioned along the way
- October 6, 2025 The Feast of Trumpets： A Rehearsal for What's Coming Brian Hunter walks Tribe through God's fall feasts, showing how the feast of trumpets, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot point to Jesus' return and reign.
- June 17, 2024 Hang Your Hat on the Biggest Hook Brian Hunter uses a coat rack and hats to explore how our beliefs need to hang on hooks strong enough to bear the weight of truth, rooted in God's word.
- June 16, 2024 Hang Your Hat on God's Truth A Wyoming pastor uses a hat rack and a nail in the wall to explore what it means to hang your beliefs on truth that can actually bear the weight.
- September 11, 2023 Contending for Apostolic Foundations A guest speaker shares his journey from communist college student to plumber and back to faith, exploring what Scripture calls the apostolic foundations of the church.